D.A.D. 101: Choosing the right fit

Before we set about choosing our pup for Harrison we spoke to our friend, Adrienne Olivier, who is an accomplished dog trainer and GSD breeder based here in the KZN Midlands. She has seen us through the training of all of our dogs since 2005: Tara, Jagger, Madumbi, Daisy and Tata.
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Asking Adrienne for advice in this field comes naturally, we respect her knowledge and experience so much. Save for packing her into our car and taking her with us, Adrienne equipped us with a list of things to assess in the choosing process. She understands our situation and gave us some pointers on how to choose the dog that would best fit in with our family and our need for a service dog whose job it will be to alert us for possible hypoglycaemic or hyperglycaemic levels.

We have decided to compile this list and document as much as what we can throughout this journey because we know that there are other families out there who might be in the same boat as us looking to self-train their own Diabetic Alert Dog because the cost of purchasing one already trained is just far too much.

The checklist:

1. The breed of pup is not necessarily important but you might prefer to find a breed that best fits your circumstances. Because Harrison is still so little we decided to choose a breed that is synonymous with an even temperament and has a great reputation with children and people in general. Had we been looking for just a pet we may have explored the option of rescuing a pup from the SPCA but the thing about a mix-breed, when you aren’t sure of the mix combinations, is the uncertainty of certain personality traits.
2. Being purebred it often helps to know the bloodlines of the family so that you can check on the quality of the genes in that particular family. I have added this in here even though in our case this information is not available to us but you can get a fairly good idea by assessing the quality of the parents upon first meeting. If the information is available it will just equip you to make a better decision. These are the types of questions you can ask: “Have you registered this litter of pups?” - if no, “Are the parents registered?” - if no, “Were the grandparents registered?”... If the breeder has any information that can speak for the lineage you would be able to make a few calls to find out more about the quality of the dogs - things like no predispositions in the bloodline to hip dysplasia or other abnormalities are a great sign.
3. Call the pups and see their reaction at the first meeting. We were standing a few feet away and called to the group of pups  sitting around mom, every single one came running to us with their tails wagging. What a good sign! You want to choose a pup that shows a positive reaction. Avoid choosing the pup that hangs back from the group and doesn’t get in on the action.
4. The surroundings are important too. Have a look at how the pups have been cared for by the owners of the dogs. The cleaner the better and you can see that they are being looked after well.
5. For service dog training you are wanting a pup that is calm and confidant. Try not confusing a fearful pup with calm though. They need to present signs that they are socially attracted and interested in humans.
6. Avoid the litter bully. THe little guy that is feisty and part of all the action, even instigating the action is probably not the best idea if you are wanting a pup that will listen and follow instruction without testing the limits too much. The litter bully will have a very strong temperament with high drive and will likely push the boundaries more than the calm confident pup. You want the middle of the road pup; the pup who isn’t fearful but also not too boisterous!
7. Test the sound sensitivity of the pups by dropping a set of keys or clapping your hands. A positive response will be a pup who looks up and at the sound, even maybe motions towards the sound. A pup that scampers off and hides from the noise is not what you are looking for.
8. Because labradors and golden retrievers have a reputation for mouthy-ness, while you might not get away with it completely you will need to find the pup that is a little bit mouthy but not a muncher. The pup that just has his jaws wrapped around everything is not the right fit, especially if you are wanting to train him to mind a young child.
9. If you are getting your service pup for a young child, it best to take the child with and see the reaction of the pups to the child. Pups that show interest and are not afraid are good indicators that they have not been traumatised by other children and makes for a great relationship between them!
10. One of the most important things to check, especially for Diabetic Alert Dogs is their retrieval drive. Have a piece of paper or something soft that you can rustle around and spark their interest. Tossing it away from you and seeing the pup follow after is a positive sign of a natural retrieval drive. Because your Diabetic Alert Dog will be trained to fetch your child’s testing kit it is better to have a dog that naturally wants to fetch things.
11. Don’t rush the decision to get a puppy. It is a long term commitment and investment of time and energy so you really want to find the best fit for your family!